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Northern Colorado named Lisa Ebeling the head coach of the women’s swimming and diving program in August of 2016.
Since coming to UNC she has helped push the program to the top half of the WAC.
Ebeling and her team made history in the 2021-22 season, with broken records, wins, and swimmer accolades. They earned three straight WAC dual victories and took down Wyoming for only the second time in program history. They ended the season with an overall record of 9-1 and earned third place at the WAC Championships with the most points in program history, 530.5. At the Championships, the Bears totaled four gold medals, three silver, six bronze, and seven school records. Swimmers Madelyn Moore and Katelyn Bergin also received WAC Swimmer of the Week Honors throughout the season, with Moore also securing WAC Swimmer of the Year for the second consecutive year.
The 2020-21 season also proved to be successful for Ebeling and the Bears as they went on to finish their season with an overall record of 9-1. They also moved up in the WAC standings, tabbing a third place finish at the WAC Championships. Madelyn was also named the WAC Swimmer of the Year. During the season, the program also earned a spot on the Mid-Major Top-25 Ranking for the first time in history, coming in a No. 22.
In 2019-20, Ebeling helped the Bears to 76 lifetime best swims, 35 times the top-10 of program history, three All-WAC First Team members and six All-WAC Second Team members. UNC finished sixth at the WAC Championships, with junior Petra Kis taking home the 400 IM for the second year in a row.
Northern Colorado reached new heights in 2018-19. The team matched its highest ever finish at the WAC Championship by taking third place. In Ebeling's third season as the Bears head coach, the team rewrote the program's record book by breaking 13 records. UNC swam 22 NIC qualifying times and three NCAA B qualifying times over the season as well. At the WAC Championships, Northern Colorado won five titles, including winning three of the five relays, and had 11 swimmers earn either first or second team All-Conference honors.
In 2017-18, the Bears jumped up to a fifth place finish at the WAC Championships and the program won three duel meets against a very tough schedule. The 2017-18 season's top achievement was Petra Kis being named the WAC Freshman of the Year. Kis helped in pushing the team's progress forward as they set six school records and had four NCAA B qualifying times.
In her first season with Northern Colorado, the team won six duel meets and finished seventh in the WAC with a strong final day at the WAC Championship. Over the year one program record was broke, but the foundation was laid for the years to come for the program.
Not only has Northern Colorado swimming and diving seen success in the pool, but continued their success in the classroom under Ebeling who has stressed the point of being a student-athlete by having the team extend its CSCAA Academic Team honor to 14 straight semesters.
Ebeling came to UNC after four seasons as the assistant at the University of Alabama where she helped coach both programs and was the recruiting coordinator for the women’s team.
In her first season with the Crimson Tide, the women’s team enjoyed a standout season in the classroom. After turning in the highest team grade point average in the nation during the fall of 2013 the women's team finishes third during the spring semester with a 3.65.
2014-15 was just as impressive at Alabama. Ebeling helped guide a record-shattering season that saw the men's and women's teams break a combined 21 school records, including 19 of 36 swimming records. Both the men and the women made significant moves up the rankings at both the Southeastern Conference and NCAA Championships.
The 2015-16 season marked another big step forward for the Crimson Tide program on the national stage. With their sixth place finish in 2016 and 10th place finish in 2015, Alabama's men earned their first back-to-back top-10 NCAA finishes since 1985 and 1986. The women's team took 28th at the 2016 NCAA Championships, Alabama's best finish since 2005. They also had 38 student-athletes named NCAA All-Americans.
The Colorado Springs, Colorado native came to Tuscaloosa after stints as an assistant coach at the University of Utah and Rutgers University. She was part of the coaching staff in the Utes inaugural season as part of the Pac-12 Conference in 2011-12, during which Utah broke 15 school records.
A three-time All-American at Arizona, Ebeling helped the Wildcats win the 2006 Pac-10 championship. She also earned Academic All-America honors during her Wildcat career and was honored with the Mary Roby Academic Achievement Award.
She graduated from Arizona with a bachelor's degree in elementary education in 2007 and coached at the Phoenix Swim Club. Ebeling earned her master's degree at the University of Alabama.
Ebeling is joined in Greeley by her husband, Eric, her daughters, Elizabeth and Hannah, and her son, Isaiah.